I live in Southeast TX. My children are heavily involved in sports & showing livestock. My ex is deliberately choosing summer visitation dates so that they will not be able to attend the camps & shows that they have already expressed an interest in. Is there anything that I can do to prevent this? He is very selfish - he is constantly saying "it is my time & I can do whatever I want. I don't have to keep their schedules unless I want to." Is there any law or precedent that says he needs to get them to their acitivities? Do I have to go back to court to force him to do so?

On a side note, he remarried a woman with 4 kids of her own - 2 of which live with their grandmother instead of mom. One of these stepsiblings has a juvenile record of sexual contact. How can I protect my kids this summer? The stepsibling (whom my kids call the stepmonster) is 14; my kids are 12 (boy) & 9 girl). My ex isolates the kids so that they only ones that they are allowed to interact with are the stepsiblings which means that he only allows the 9 year old to "play" with the 14 yr old.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I live in Southeast TX. My children are heavily involved in sports & showing livestock. My ex is deliberately choosing summer visitation dates so that they will not be able to attend the camps & shows that they have already expressed an interest in. Is there anything that I can do to prevent this? He is very selfish - he is constantly saying "it is my time & I can do whatever I want. I don't have to keep their schedules unless I want to." Is there any law or precedent that says he needs to get them to their acitivities? Do I have to go back to court to force him to do so?

On a side note, he remarried a woman with 4 kids of her own - 2 of which live with their grandmother instead of mom. One of these stepsiblings has a juvenile record of sexual contact. How can I protect my kids this summer? The stepsibling (whom my kids call the stepmonster) is 14; my kids are 12 (boy) & 9 girl). My ex isolates the kids so that they only ones that they are allowed to interact with are the stepsiblings which means that he only allows the 9 year old to "play" with the 14 yr old.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I don't know that you can "force" him to let the kids participate. I know the courts don't like to see one parent schedule activities during the other parents time; this isn't exactly the same thing but it is somewhat. If your ex objects to the children participating in the activities, does he have something else planned to do with the children?

You state that their stepsibling has a juvenile record for "sexual contact" - was s/he charged and/or convicted of something? If so, what was the conviction?

To be quite honest, it sounds like there is a lot of bitterness and selfishness across the board. The fact that you want to use the courts to "force" him to do something during his time with the children doesn't reflect well.

... My ex is deliberately choosing summer visitation dates so that they will not be able to attend the camps & shows that they have already expressed an interest in. ...


Does the custody order allow him to choose the visitation dates? That's odd. It should specify the time window so that, if the parents can't agree otherwise, they are bound by that window. Looks like you need to go back to court on this. Do it quickly so that you can get it resolved in time.